Railway-car-step extension.



F. w. BECKER. RATLW'AY CAR STEP EXTENSION. APPLICATION FILED'IUL'Q 1917-Lm, l 1 Patented Nov. 2?, 1917.

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RAILWAY CAR STEP ExIEIIsIoIII.

APPLICATION FILED 1ULY9. I9I7.

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FRIEDERICH WILLIAM BECKER, or new ATHENS, Iranians.V

RAILWAY-CAR-STEP' EXTENSIN.

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Specification of Letters Patent. Patented NV; 2*?, 191i? mAppllcationrled July 9, `1917. Serial No. 179,522.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, Fnrnnnnrorr W. BECKER, a citizen of the Unitedtn'tates, residing at New Athens, in the county of St. Clair and Stateof illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inRailwayar-Step Extensions; and l do de- Clare the following to be afull, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

My invention has for its object to provide a simply constructed andinexpensive, yet a highly efhcient and durable auxiliary step forattachment to the lower steps of railway cars to assist the passengersin entering and leaving the same, thus obviating the use of the usualstools now commonly employed for this purpose.

With the foregoing general object in view, the invention resides in thenovel features of construction and unique combinations of parts to behereinafter fully described and claimed, the descriptive matter beingsup plemented by the accompanying drawings which form a part of thisspecification and in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a portion of a railway car showing theapplication of my invention thereto the auxiliary step being lowered;

Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse section on the plane indicated by theline 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a similar view showing the step raised; and

Fig. 4 is a perspective view illustrating one end of the frame whichcarries the auxiliary step.

In the drawings above brieliy described,

the numerals 1 designate a pair of horizontal bars adapted to extendtransversely across the upper side of the lowermost step of the car, therear ends of said bars being bent downwardly and forwardly to providehooks 2 which receive the rear edge of the step therein. Hinged at 3 tothe front ends of the bars 1, are two vertically disposed bars 4 whoselower portions are bent forwardly to provide horizontal arms 5 whichsupport thereon the auxiliary step 6, the front ends of said arms 5being by preference bent upwardly at into engagement with the outer edgeof said step. The vertical bars 4 are rigidly connected by a horizontalbar S and the arms 5 are similarly connected by a longitudinal bar 9,the ends of said bar 9 extending` beyond the arms and being bentupwardly to forman ear 10 at each end Rods l1 are pivoted at their lowerends to the ears 10 and at their upper ends are pro`- vided with eyes 12adapted for passage over studs or knobs 13 carried by the sides of thecar step, soi that the auxiliary sten may be heldin either raised orlowered position. Although any suitable type of handle could well beemployed for operating` the rods 11, the upper portions thereof arepreferably bowed inwardly as indicated at 11a, for this purpose. Thisconstruction is simple and inexpensive, yet meets the requirement and,

is therefore preferred.

A pair of brackets 14 are rigidly secured to the vertical bars 5 and areadapted to underlie the lower step of the car when the auxiliary step islowered, said brackets thus serving to limit the downward movement ofthe auxiliary step and to effectively brace the same against sagging.The brackets 14 are by preference of substantially the shape of aninverted L, but any other required formation may well be employed, itbeing desirable, however, that each bracket be provided with a fiatupper portion 14a for contact with the lower side of the step.

Preferably employed in connection with theJ features of constructionabove described, are t-wo triangular end plates 16, said platescontacting with the outer edges of the bars 4 and arms 5 and havingtheir edges bent inwardly to form flanges 17 which are riveted orotherwise secured to said bars and arms. By this means, the arms 5 areprevented from springing downwardly and added rigidity is thereforeimparted to the entire device.

Normally, that is when the car is in motion, the auxiliary step 6 israised and held in this position by engaging the eyes 12 with theuppermost studs or knobs 13. When, however, the car is stopped andpassengers are to be loaded or unloaded, the eyes 12 are released sothat the auxiliary step may be lowered by swinging it downwardly aroundthe hinges 3. This having been done the rods 11 are properly engagedwith the lower knobs 13 and then serve as additional means for bracingthe entire step.

From the foregoing, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings,it will be obvious that although the invention `is of4 are obtained fromthe specific features 'ofY construction shown and described, suchfeatures constitute the preferred form of the device. It is to beunderstood, however, that within the scope of the invention as claimed,numerous minor changes could well be made. Y

'I claim:

l. A car step extension comprising' an auxiliary step,'a frame by whichsaid step is carried, said frame including a pair of end members eachhavinga vertical bar, a pair of horizontal bars to which said verticalbars are hinged, said horizontal bars being adapted to overlie thelowerstep of the car, and a pair of rigid brackets secured tosaid verticalbars and extending rearwardly to underlie said lower step when oar, therear ends of said bars being bent downwardly and forwardly to form hooksfor engagement with the rear edge of said step, a pair of` vertical barshinged to the Vfront end of said transverse bars and havL edges bentinwardly and secured thereto,

and a pair of brackets rigidly securedrto and extending rearwardly fromsaid vertil.cal bars, said brackets being adapte-d to un` derlie saidlower step when said auxiliary step is lowered. if A Y In testimonywhereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribingwitnesses. Y'

FRIEDERIGH WILLIAM BECKER. i

Witnesses: Y

JOHN H. KEINER, Gro. TRAUT.

" Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressingthe "Commissioner oflraitents,

Washington, D. C.

